From the editor: Long-term cars

Comment | This week at Drive we look at how some of our past Car of the Year winners rate after several years of ownership.

30 March 2012Toby Hagon

Testing new cars is something we think we do pretty well here at Drive. Without beating our chests too much, we drive hundreds of cars each year with the aim of calling them as we see them. Often, it is not what the car makers want to hear but it is all designed to separate the great cars from the good ones - and the downright ordinary ones.

But there are some things we can't test them for, such as reliability and long-term durability - which just happen to be two of the most important things for used-car buyers.

Most cars will last a few years without many problems, so they generally don't have an issue during the time we test them (although we have seen our fair share of gripes, from pieces of trim falling off to complete electrical failure that requires a tow truck).

This week, though, we have done something a little different and revisited our Car of the Year category winners and finalists from 2006 and 2008, with the aim of establishing whether their star status from a few years ago makes them worthy second-hand cars now.

The brief to our DCOTY judge and used-car expert David Morley was to call it as he saw it. As we expected, there are mixed results. It is an interesting analysis and one that provides a great guide for those who don't want to splash out on something fresh from the showroom.

TOBY HAGON, NATIONAL MOTORING EDITOR

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The size of your tyre is located on the sidewall of your tyre.It will be similar to the sample below.